[Nogrod]

The sporting community has always been renonwned for its effort to promote peace and brotherhood among nations but a few eyebrows were raised when the Arda 2008 board gave Mordor the right to host group G for the tournament.

The organisers had done their best before the tournament making different PR-campaigns but not all were convinced. Some of them just seemed to lack any street credibility like the campaign “No more tug of war – go out, hug a dwarf!”. The others seemed not to exactly promote brotherhood of nations but rather opened old wounds, like the “We couldn’t beat the White City in the war so let’s beat them on the scoreboard” –campaign. And what should one say about the last and greatest campaign of “Don’t kill a tourist!”?

It was then no wonder that only a handful of extreme football fanatics from Hithlum, Moria and Minas Tirith dared to venture to the games in Mordor. Against all odds there had been only sporadic acts of violence and only a few deaths during the days leading to the games.

The stadium was practically empty when the referee whistled the game between Hithlum and Moria open. The orcs were still preparing for the grand match of the evening drinking in local pubs and warming up by having fights with themselves and with any outlanders they could find. Naturally most of the visitors felt themselves the most safe within the walls of the stadium.

And what a match they saw there! If someone had bet his money on Moria he should quickly try to get his money back for there was practically one team in the field – and what a game it played! Hithlum was leading 2-0 before even an half an hour had been played. Hurin broke through the defence with a most intelligent pass by Fingolfin and just ten minutes later Turin shot such a rocket from 30 meters that the Watcher was only able watch it go in. Before the half time Hithlum had two great chances of adding their lead but first Hador and then Hurin managed to shoot wide from open places.

To anyone betting on these games it must be said though that Hithlum’s defence made a few cardinal mistakes in the beginning of the second period when Moria tried to come back to the game. First Gundor and Marach collided going for the same ball giving Narvi a great opportunity to score. Just a few minutes later Hador blundered as the lowest defender and passed the ball straight to Durin’s feet. But on both occasions Huor at the goal was a man worth his weight in gold. But so it went that on 51st minute Durin’s Bane finally booted the ball in after Bolg had dribbled Gundor out of the game and passed him free to an empty goal.

But that was all team Moria was capable of. The Hithlum team pulled itself together after the goal and went its way. The slowly growing crowd witnessed the sealing of the match on 69th minute when Fingolfin played a nice wall-pass with Hurin and hammered the ball in from the edge of the box.

Hithlum 3-1 Moria
shots 14-10
on target 6-4
GOALS:
*Hithlum, 17 (Hurin-Fingolfin)
*Hithlum, 28 (Turin- Fingon)
*Moria, 51 (Durin's Bane- Bolg)
*Hithlum, 69 (Fingolfin- Hurin)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Hithlum- Aegnor
*Moria- Oin, Balin, Great Goblin


But then all was set for the real game the crowd had been anticipating. Due to the peace-promoting campaigns the general feeling was that of a war. When the teams walked in to the field the crowd started throwing knives and different kind of kitchen utensils on the Minas Tirith team who made a quick leap back to the field house. It was only after several announcements and the referee’s threat to cancel the match that the crowd started behaving and the match could begin.

It was no surprise the game was a rough one. 11 cards were dealt during the game and a more strict referee would have easily given double or triple the amount. The game was also stopped three times because of the crowd’s behaviour. First it went mad from Minas Tirith’s equaliser calling it an offside, second time they greeted the visiting team yet again with knives and bottles as the second half was about to start and third time they couldn’t take the referee’s decision to send Shagrat off the field at 65th minute (that time the referee’s were forced to run for cover).

Mordor got an early lead when Khamul was freed by an ingenious pass by the Witch King who had scared the defenders away. But Minas Tirith equalised with Denethor II’s long pass that freed Boromir to face Shelob one on one. Whether it was actually offside will remain a disputed point that will be discussed for years to come.

The game was rough but it was also very offensive football. Both Ecthelion and Shelob had to perform their best to keep the scoreline low. And they did it. But finally, on the 57th minute Mordor’s forwards aided by Nazguls #3 and #4 opened the Minas Tirith defence with beautiful series of passes leaving The Witch King the easy job to pass the ball into the empty net in front of him. Officially the pass went to The Mouth but to be fair also Khamul and the Nazguls should have been recorded.

After getting the lead Mordor team started to secure their position which led into Minas Tirith getting the upper hand in the field. Mordor’s assets weakened considerably as Shagrat was sent to the shower at 65th minute for biting Telumehtar’s ear during a row before a corner kick. But Mordor had a tactics for the situation as well. Khamul managed to provoke Ondoher into a retaliation by kicking him to the groin when the referee didn’t notice. As Ondoher got back to his senses and went mad chasing Khamul around the field the referee showed him the red card immediately. Worried about Ondoher’s security, if he would need to walk out from the field and thence go near the audience, the referee made an unconventional decision ordering him to stand in the middle spot of the field not allowed to take part in the game for the rest of the match.

Even if they tried their best Minas Tirith never got the second goal and the home team was victorious. It had actually been the better team on the field and earned the victory but the behaviour of the crowd would be assessed through a looking glass. The threat is the last games will be played in an empty stadium.

Minas Tirith 1-2 Mordor
shots 10-15
on target 5-8
GOALS:
*Mordor, 22 (Khamul- Witch King)
*Minas Tirith, 38 (Boromir I- Denethor II)
*Mordor, 57 (Witch King- The Mouth)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Minas Tirith- Ondoher, Telumehtar, Earnil II, Earnur, Beregond
*Mordor- Shagrat, Nazgul #6, Khamul, Nazgul #7
RED CARDS:
*Minas Tirith- Ondoher, 68 (2nd yellow)
*Mordor- Shagrat, 65 (2nd yellow)